That’s Right Nate

It was a great trip for Emily and I despite some tensions between us.   We had lunch yesterday in Tulsa at Hank’s Hamburgers with Martin Loviglio who told Emily about how there are many more opportunities for women nowadays including owning and operating their own self storage business.  I think she was inspired.   I was really inspired by the Big Okie Burger at Hanks–Four quarter-pound patties, four slices of cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, grilled onions, raw onions and mustard are all neatly arrayed in a bun to become Hank’s masterpiece.   I had a side of the chili frito pie and washed it down with a very thick old fashioned malt.

Emily and I had some rough times as I mentioned before, but I think I showed her the cool side of the self storage business and I hope my talk to her about her weight will help.   Really, at 120 pounds her BMI is in the healthy range, but she’s never going to be popular until she drops 10-15 more pounds.  I think she sees it now and will look back on our father daughter time fondly, despite some tears. I came back to see the Republicans kicking butt.

Investor’s Business Daily changed their article I wrote about Stephen Hawking last week.  I was disappointed that they wouldn’t stick by their guns, but I really admire their proactive approach of just changing the editorial instead of going through the messy steps of printing a retraction.

Sam (Joe the Plumber) Wurzelbacher challenged Nacny Pelosi to a fight after she called people who called the over the top crowds at town hall meetings Unamerican for attempting to silence those in favor of socialized medicine. “You know, I’m not the most civilized person,” Wurzelbacher continued. “Those kind of people, I usually took behind the woodshed and just beat the livin’ tar out of ‘em.”  You have to love his fighting spirit.

I’m happy to be back in Chicago and though I unfortunately missed the conservative bloggers conference in Pittsburgh this year, my love of this country has been invigorated by seeing placed I hadn’t seen before and meeting new people.   Tomorrow, I’ll start letting the left have it again.

Emily and I are in St. Louis and having a great time of it.  Today, we got to see the Bowling Hall of Fame, The arch, and Emily’s favoite – Ted Drewes Frozen Custard.   Tomorrrow we’re going to go see Frank Blumeyer Sr. I tried to discuss her weight with her, but unfortunately Emily was having none of it.   She kept talking about BMI.  Anyway, on the way to Bixby I hopefully will be able to talk her into jogging along the road.

Silo outside Faith Tabernacle Church in Bixby, OK

I’m going to be suspending the blog for almost a week as my daughter Emily and I take a vacation I’ve dreamed about for a long time.   When I was 13 years old I literally ate, drank, and slept self storage.   Unfortunately, Emily doesn’t seem to have the same passion for the family business that I do.  Her main passion seems to be eating and I assured her we’d stop at plenty of good restaurants.   Regardless, this is my chance to really ignite her passion in the self storage industry, which I believe is the key to america’s survival in the coming decades.   Hopefully, along the way, we’ll have some precious father and daughter memories.

In planning the trip I started with the innugural class of the Self Storage Hall of Fame from 2005.  Just reading their names you can feel the history:

Frank Blumeyer, Sr. – Founder, Storage Inns. Blumeyer opened his first self storage facility in 1973 and made significant contributions to the industry in the areas of design and marketing. In the early years of the SSA, Blumeyer went out of his way to work with novice operators to help establish an educated and efficient industry. (Blumeyer and his business are in St. Louis.   We’re so there)

Gordon Burnam – Founder, Storage Mart. Burnam happened on a self storage facility in 1974, while vacationing with family. He opened one facility in the college town of Columbia, MO and within a few years had 14 stores in eight states. Burnam was one of the first in the self storage sector to take his company public. (Columbia, is not that far from St. Louis.)

Daniel Curtis – Curtis was a fighter pilot and an engineer who became an entrepreneur when he recognized the need to satisfy building demands in self storage. His metal products and door designs have been adopted throughout the country in storage facilities.  (A hero of mine.  You can’t beat the combination of fighter pilot and self storage giant)

Hardy Good – Founder, MiniCO, Inc. During the past four decades Good has filled many needs of the self storage community, chief among them insurance and publishing. He has also been a supporter and participant in Self Storage Association activities since its founding. (Hardy is a living legend and though Phoenix is a drive, I’m really looking forward to seeing him)

Harold Leslie – Leslie Industries, Inc. A charter SSA member while working for Piper Industries, Inc., Leslie refined the standing  seam steel roof concept, now common in self storage construction. His own company, Leslie Industries, has been a leading self storage builder for more than three decades. (I’ve heard my dad tell of the days before the Standing Seam Steel Roof and Harold Leslie is a giant, but we won’t be visiting him).

Edmund Olson – A-American Self Storage, Inc. Olson owned Gunite Construction in 1973, when he saw a “mini-warehouse” on a trip to Phoenix, AZ. His first self storage facility soon followed, in Canoga Park, CA. A-American Self Storage is now the 8th largest operator in the business with 102 facilities in several states. (Unfortunately, California is too far)

Arthur “Buzz” Victor – Founder, United Stor-All. The patriarchrof the SSA created the Association after searching for other operators with whom to share ideas, establish standards and advocate pro-storage positions. Victor served as the first President of the SSA from 1975 to 1977. The Mini Storage Alarm Company was also an early creation of Victor’s, formed when he recognized that fences and locks were not enough to satisfy the security demands of tenants. (I’m not a fan of Mr. Victor.  I believe that is enough said)

I mentioned meeting up with Martin Loviglio at the GRPSEC.  In my mind it’s a travesty that neither Martin Loviglio who is the founder of modern storage facility management nor John Peele who was the pioneer of self storage in the Great Lakes Region have yet to be recognized.  We’ll be meeting up with Martin Loviglio in Bixby, Oklahoma.  Hopefully, he won’t mind putting us up for a couple of days.

I apologize in advance for missing the next week of posting, but exposing my daughter to the wonders of self storage and some quality time alone is worth it.   I’m hoping I can take advantage of the long ride bettween Bixby and Phoenix to discuss her weight with her.

As usual, the convention was amazing.

I just returned from what should have been one of the greatest week’s of my life.   Very few people are lucky enough to attend the Great Lakes Regional Public Storage Expo and Convention, which in my mind is the Super Bowl of self-storage conventions.   They are doing amazing things with corrugated cardboard and I don’t mind telling you that within 5 years, it will revolutionize the way we pack things.  My song parody “The Locks I Love” (sung to The Look of Love) was a huge hit and even bigger than last year’s Baby Got Box.  I did quite well at self-storage pictionary too.  The father of modern storage facility management Martin Loviglio not only talked with me, but recognized me.   I even got to see the United States beat Brazil 2-0 in some soccer tournament at the hotel bar between conferences.

Then I came back.  I discovered that my good name had been run through the dirt at a variety of websites simply because I dared to use my first amendment rights to question whether Obama had murdered South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford.   Well my friends, I’m rested, invigorated and ready to take on such liberal bastions as Intershame , Wordsmoker, and Balloon-Juice as well as a myriad of forums and message boards.   Look, I’ll be the first to admit that I was probably wrong about Obama murdering Sanford, but as I’ve said before, politicians have a responsibility to avoid not just impropriety, but the appearance of impropriety.  Obama deserves just as much of the blame as I do because it was his behavior that enabled me to mistakenly accuse him of murder.  Obama may not have murdered the governor of South Carolina, but there are 49 other states and for their sakes, we need to remain ever vigilant.

It appears that Mark Sanford was alive and well. He was simply talking to the Russian government about seceding from the United States. While I am obviously no fan of Obama’s it is a load off my mind to know that he has not killed Governor Sanford. I guess we won’t know until Sanford returns to South Carolina, but the above link seems pretty legit. They even used me as a source.

I will be out of town for the rest of this week and the weekend. For those of you unaware, this is the week of the big Great Lakes Regional Public Storage Expo and Convention. This is basically, the Super Bowl of self-storage conventions. Supposedly, Martin Loviglio will be there. Martin is basically the father of the modern self-storage business and designed many of the box shapes and sizes that are still used in the industry today. I met him back in 1996 and it was a highlight. He had so many self-storage stories, I could have talked to him all night. Some people prefer the big SSA trade show in Vegas, but for me you can’t beat the GLRPSEC.

Recently, one of our most loyal readers, Lola successfully defended her PHD in English Literature (Yay Lola!!). As you know, I recently received an honorary associates degree from Sawyer College in General Studies and I have not defended it. I feel that boxing champions and people with advanced degrees should defend. I will answer Lola’s 15 topics as my defense. I will defend it against all comers when I return. Until I talk to you all again next week, let us not say goodbye, but as we say in the self-storage game, “Be Back in 5 Minutes”

Update: No sooner do I start packing for my trip, than our own Congressman Jack Kimble (R-CA) gets a nice writeup on the amazing Political Carnival blog.   He hasn’t been on Twitter very long, but I told him he’d get fans if he joined.

Many of you have told me how much you appreciated my Amazing Christmas Gifts post awhile back.  Well since that I posted that I found some new gifts and thought a few things I forgot about so allow me to present 5 more amazing gifts for the holiday season.

5. Jesus Inspirational Sports Figures — For your Christian sports fan what could be better than Jesus Christ himself playing your favorite sport.  I admit as a hockey fan I was a little disappointed to see soccer in there and hockey omitted, but these amazing statues from www.catholicshopper.com are truely divine.  Best of all, Jesus is dressed in white so he can be repainted in your favorite team colors. ($21.95)

4. Santa Door Greeter — Is there a better way to keep yourself in the mood for Christmas than with a large motion sensing door greeter Santa Claus that screams out “Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas” and plays an electronic Christmas carol every single time somebody opens the door over and over and over again.  Just think how your family will light up on Christmas Eve when the Santa goes off 10 or 20 or 30 times.  I found this one on EBay for less than $10  ($9.99). [Thanks to Scootmandubious for finding this one.]

3. Lockdown: The Liberal Agenda to Bankrupt the Self-Storage Industry and Turn America into a Third-World Country by Nate Peele — This Dusk Jacket will fit over any hardcover book between 350-400 pages and at $7.99 is considerably cheaper than most new books.  You can read more about my exciting new Dusk Jacket deal in the archive ($7.99)

2. Pretty in Mink Calendar – The sexiest women of the conservative movement together in a calendar that shows their outer as well as inner beauty.  This calendar which is great to rub in the face of any PETA activist is to show them the lovely Ann Coulter or Michelle Malkin wrapped in mink on your wall.  The calendar advertisement doesn’t really show pictures, but it claims to turn back time for the conservative women  and ” made them up into glamorous movie stars of classic Hollywood.”  I’m looking forward to seeing the lovely Ms. Coulter as Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind. ($25)

1. Self Storage Gift Certificates – For $100 you can pay for a 5×10 storage space for a month.  This is an ideal gift for a child moving back home with you after losing his job or a friend who got foreclosed on.  Individual storage prices vary from location to location, but please remember storage units are not proper housing and should not be used as such. (Varies)

Business in the self-storage industry continues to boom.  I am auctioning off a bunch of stuff this week that people lost when they couldn’t pay their bills.  There is some very nice stuff and it should give me enough to pay for my trip this week to Indiana for the SSIA trade show.  I’ve also just got my plane tickets for the September 4-6 trade show coming up in Las Vegas for the Self Storage Association Trade Show.  Cal Ripken is the big guest of honor, but I’m looking forward to seeing Tony Blankley almost as much.  If you’re in Las Vegas at that time, I can’t recommend the public access day enough. 

I have also completed plans for my mid July road trip.  I’m going to be visiting all the Republican Presidential Libraries/museums in the midwest.  I’m looking to do  Hoover in Iowa, Ford in Michigan, and then end with Harding, McKinnley, and Hayes in Ohio.  I’ve already done Lincoln.  If this trip doesn’t provide inspiration I don’t know what will.